I am a Tombstone Tourist: someone who loves to wander cemeteries. I find it akin to visiting a museum: an opportunity to enjoy rarely seen sculpture, intricate carvings, and amazing architecture, all in a tranquil outdoor setting. This blog is about cemetery culture, art, history, issues of death, and genealogy - subjects of current relevance. I usually find something that intrigues me and makes me want to dig deeper. Care to join me? Read on...

Friday, July 19, 2013

Horror Show Hosts – The End of an Era

Horror Hosts

Last
week we took a look at horror show hosts from the 1950’s and 60’s. Today, we
wrap up our scary look back at horror host from the 1970’s, 80’s and beyond…

Ads for Horror Shows

Those
Creature Feature packages that
television stations bought for late night viewing contained the best and worst
of the B movies from the 1930’s – 50’s. But most viewers tuned in to be
entertained by the show’s host – usually a station employee moonlighting as a
vampire, ghoul, mad scientist, or an array of other undead beings. By the early
70’s they had learned how to deliver a high-energy show on a low, low budget
simply by providing a dry wit and cool patter. By the end of the 70’s over 200
horror hosts roamed the late night television airwaves.

1970’s

Dr Shock & Bubbles

Dr
Shock was a well-known horror host
in Philadelphia during the 1970’s. Portrayed by magician Joseph Zawislak (1937
– 1979, he was known as the “Mad Magician of Fright.” Dr Shock was a zombie with slicked back hair and
a black frock coat – a bit sinister and over the top. The station decided to
soften his shocking image by adding his daughter, Doreen, to the show. Her
character was named Bubbles after the show’s sponsor Bubbles-Booth soda. The
Doctor’s signoff, “Let there be fright!” was a catch phrase in Philly for years. When Zawislak died of a heart
attack in 1979, the show died with him.

Sivad, the Vampire with the southern accent, was the
“Monster of Ceremonies” for the Fantastic Features horror movie program on WHBQ. Portrayed by Watson
Davis (1913 - 2005 (Sivad was Davis spelled backwards), Sivad ruled the
prime-time airwaves on Saturday nights in Memphis, Tennessee. His campy humor
appealed to adults and youth alike, as was apparent when 30,000 people showed
up for one of his personal appearances at the State Fair. Sivad was an expert
at playing the "ghoulaphone" and the "coffinola," both
instruments Davis created for Sivad.

He
began as a horror host on a film program in the Chicago area in the late 70’s,
but has moved on to become a national host for Saturday night movies on Me-TV.
Such is the life of (Son of) Svengoolie whose name is a play on the word Svengali, meaning someone with evil
intent.Portrayed by Rich Koz
since 1979, Svengoolie clues viewers in on the cheap movie effects, sings
catchy little dirges, and tells corny jokes, all which usually ends up with him
being pelted with rubber chickens by the undead audience.

With
the Me Decade came the influx of She ghouls! Women were taking to the airwaves
as vamps, vixens, and man-eaters.

Stella the Man-eater

In
Philadelphia, following Saturday Night Live, you could curl up with some
popcorn and watch Saturday Night Dead, starring Stella the Man-eater from Manayunk (a working class suburb of Philly.) Stella was not
a vampire or a ghoul; she was a self-described vamp, a ghoul next-door type who
was the “Daughter of Desire.” Portrayed by Karen Scioli, Stella was a cult
favorite with her vibrating bed, known as Beda Logois, and there were always a few half-dressed
men hanging around her haunted home; it's said, she definitely knew how to keep a
guy on his toes.

Horror
hostess Elvira greeted viewers
in Los Angles each week in a low-cut, high slit gown as she introduced the current Movie
Macabre feature. More quirky than
creepy, Elvira quickly began appearing on other television shows during the
80’s before taking on NFL football in the 90’s and movies at the turn of the
century. Portrayed by Cassandra Peterson (1951 -), a former go-go dancer and
Vegas show girl, Elvira is a combination of sexy vamp and punk rocker who talks
like a Valley Girl, but has a wit that’s razor sharp.

Elvira at Comic Con

After
30 years, Elvira is still making the rounds, touring the country as the
Mistress of the Dark. With her own webpage that sells DVDs, music, costumes,
apparel, and autographed photos, it appears Elvira will not going gently into
that good night…

With
the 1990’s came the public’s acceptance of the home computer and a new kind of
horror host was born. Mystery Science Theatre 3000 aired for 11 years, beginning in Minneapolis,
Minnesota on KTMA and moving to the Comedy Channel (Comedy Central) and later
the Sci-Fi Channel.

Robots Say the Funniest Things

The premise? Horror host Joel Robinson, is stranded on a space station,
forced to watch awful movies as part of an evil science experiment. He builds
four robots from parts lying around, and hilarity ensues as they critique and
bash each week's film from front row seats. The show’s original host Joel Robinson was
portrayed by show creator, Joel Hodgson (1960 -) for the first four years,
before Michael Nelson took the reigns. But it was the robots Crow T. Robot, Tom
Servo, Gypsy and Cambot, and their wisecracking comments during the film, that
stole the show and made MST3K the
most successful TV program to satirize those B movies from the past.

Dr
Gangrene provides southern fried
horror for the residents of Nashville, Tennessee. What began as a public access
program called Chiller Theatre
on a Hendersonville cable access channel spun out of control into a
full-fledged horror show. Dr Gangrene, portrayed by Larry Underwood (1966 -) is
one of the first horror hosts to self syndicate his program. The show moved to
WNAB in Nashville in 2005 and became the Creature Feature. In 2008, Go Green with Dr Gangrene, a series of Public Service Announcements began
airing in Nashville and won a Rondo Award.

Penny
Dreadful XIII is a witch intent on
casting a spell on viewers and bringing back the “daze” of the late night
horror host to the Boston-area airwaves. Portrayed by Danielle Gelehrter, Penny
Dreadful is a hex-citing host, one minute delighting with a dry wit and the
next casting a sinister gaze upon the proceedings. Penny Dreadful’s Shilling

Shockers now air in 10 states around the country, and
online. Penny is a regular witchy attraction at horror conventions around the
country.

So,
to all of the horror hosts who have guided us down those dark and dank alleys,
late at night, providing a bit of wit and humor along those dark passages, we
remember you with the words of Vincent Price – Master Horror Host:

The foulest stench is in the airThe funk of forty thousand yearsAnd grisly ghouls from every tombAre closing in to seal your doomAnd though you fight to stay aliveYour body starts to shiverFor no mere mortal can resistThe evil of the thriller

About Me

I
love wine and will take any chance to sip, savor and share it! Hence, Joy’s JOY
of Wine http://joysjoyofwine.blogspot.com,
a weekly blog about all things wine. I've been in the industry for 15
years as a winery owner, marketing director, speaker, writer, wine judge, and
100% vino girl!

I'm
also a professional freelance magazine and book writer uncorking articles about
wine, food, history, travel, cemetery history and culture. My interest in
cemetery culture led to another great, or maybe I should say
"grave" gig, my weekly blog: A Grave Interest http://agraveinterest.blogspot.com where I get to travel around the country and speak about cemetery topics for genealogy, history and
education conferences.

I suppose you could say that wine is my
passion, and cemeteries are my diversion ... into another world.

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